By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
15 Jul 2014

Playbill's new weekly feature examines the box-office trends of the past week.

*

Holler If Ya Hear Me— the Tupac Shakur musical that producers have recently vowed to pump money into it to keep it going — had another poor week, playing to 45% capacity and culling just 17% of its potential box-office take. Those numbers, however, were slightly improved from the previous week, but only by about $10,000.

Since the producers' boasts, it has been revealed that the show would indeed close July 20, so it won't have much time to improve its showing on Broadway. The production, which opened June 19 to mixed reviews, has never commanded anything near full houses.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch clocked an amazing 129% of its possible box office last week, collecting a total of $1,072,311, while retaining basically the same audience levels as the week before. The average ticket price was a handsome $148.66 — in a house where the top regular ticket price is $142. (Somebody's selling some premium seats.) The production recently announced that it recouped its initial capitalization investment as of the week of July 13.

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill enjoyed a notable jump at the box office. Numbers at the Audra McDonald show leaped from $471,917 and $549,125, with attendees going up by 300 people. That put the attraction's crowds at 96% capacity and box office take at an estimable 87%.

Of Mice and Men also soared considerably, collecting $862,862 this week, an increase of more than $100,000 over last week. Perhaps it was benefiting from a lack of competition. It is one of only two straight plays currently playing on Broadway, the other being The Cripple of Inishmaan.